Man City's preparations for derby victory helped by playing two friendly matches - Mourinho

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho says Manchester City's preparations for their derby victory were helped by City playing in two "friendly" matches during the past week.

City returned to the top of the English Premier League as they beat rivals United 3-1 earlier today.

But Mourinho says City had an advantage as their past two games ‑ home thrashings of Southampton and Shakhtar Donetsk in which they won by an aggregate 12‑1 ‑ were significantly more straightforward than his team's most recent matches.

This was United's third away game in succession, following back‑to‑back wins at Bournemouth last weekend and Juventus on Wednesday.

[Source: BBC Sports]

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